Council looks to speed development process

The City Council is scheduled to make it possible for city staff and the City Planning Commission to sign off on projects without council approval.

The effort is intended to speed up the process between an idea and construction.

Specifically, the council this week will be asked to allow the Planning Commission to make final decisions on major preliminary plat plans and allow city staff to approve minor preliminary plats.

People or developers unhappy about those decisions can appeal to the council, city development planner Vern Zakostelecky said.

He said more crucial development decisions - those involving changing the city's future land use map or changing a parcel's zoning - will continue to go to the City Council for a final say.

The latest proposed change could reduce the timeline on a development by two to four weeks and save staff time and council time, Zakostelecky said.

He said a 2008 change, which gave the commission final say on preliminary site development plans, has prompted only one appeal to the council.

In that case, Zakostelecky said, the council, on a 7-2 vote in late April, overturned a commission vote on the federal government's development plan along the north side of Wright Brothers Boulevard for a new $40-million-plus Army National Guard complex.